


Broken Rubies

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Angst, Canon, Child Abuse, Drama, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, No Slash, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-08
Updated: 2005-03-08
Packaged: 2018-12-27 15:22:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12083823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Justin is 19 and living on his own for the first time in his life.  Brian is 26 and just starting out at an ad firm.  Justin has a hidden secret, can Brian still learn to accept him, or will he just shut him out completely?





	Broken Rubies

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

**-Notes-**  
Brian comes from his same emotionally shallow family, but the abuse hasn’t affected him as much as it should have, he is a little bit skeptical of love and romance. Justin’s father was semi-abusive, mostly verbally abusive to him, and his mother just followed along; his only allies were Molly and Daphne.  
  


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Justin walked into his studio apartment in New York and dropped the duffle bag, suitcase, and cardboard box on the dirty wooden floor and closed the door behind him. As he glanced around at the small dingy apartment he couldn’t help but think back to the last time he saw his mom…  
 _…”Mom, I’m sorry but I just can’t fucking do this anymore, I can’t live in this house and pretend to be what my father wants me to be.”_  
“Justin please watch your language.” Jennifer looked at her son and wondered how her baby boy, whom she had so many hopes and dreams for, is now about to walk out her front door and move away to another city. She always felt that Justin was different, maybe a little sensitive, not into sports. But when she and Craig walked in on Justin and his boyfriend making out in the family room, she was utterly shocked. She had no idea that her only son was gay; of course Craig had acted badly, kicked out James and practically sent Justin to the hospital. She had to help her son nurse a broken lip and two bruised ribs. And then there was the whole fiasco at the prom, and the embarrassment it caused her at the club. “But is moving to New York really the answer to all of your problems?”  
“What problems are those mother? You mean the one where my father hates me, and occasionally finds time to hit me? Or the one where you always take his side?”  
“Honey, you know that you aren’t the only one in this family, I have to think of Molly and myself, and your father. I love you, but sometimes you just don’t know how to hide your lifestyle-“  
“My lifestyle? What lifestyle? I am practically a fucking prisoner in my own house; you and dad treat me like I am a disease. Nothing you, dad, or a 300 dollar an hour psychiatrist can change that. I don’t have a lifestyle, I’m gay, and I will always be gay, and I will always be your son.” Justin turned and closed the trunk, he walked around to the driver’s side and made the tires screech as he pulled off; refusing to look back...  
...So here he was in an overpriced dirty studio apartment in a bad neighborhood, with no friends, no job; but with the hope that he can start over. That everything would work out, and he might be able to move on with this life, meet someone he could love or who could love him back. Maybe he might even try to go back to school, begin to draw again; all he needed to do was find inspiration. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian stood in his newly moved into loft right in the heart of Chelsea and finished doing up his tie in front of the floor length mirror. He stood there looking at his newly pressed Armani suit, wondering how he went from recently graduated to being at the top of the advertising world. Now that he thought about it, he knew why, he was Brian Kinney for fucks sake, he was brilliant, and he was destined to be here.  
He grabbed his cell phone, wallet, and keys, then locked up his loft. He hailed a cab and made his way toward a fun-filled night full of ass kissing, champagne, and free food.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Justin looked around his apartment; he had managed to unpack what he had brought with him. He pushed the queen size mattress that was on a make shift bed up against the wall in the corner near the window.  
After selling his car he had gone out and bought a few second hand items. He bought a couch, small TV, and a dining room set. After all he had bought; he had just enough money to last another month’s rent and money for food. He had an interview as a waiter that night at a hotel, he was dying to get this job, and it had amazing pay. Plus the guy on the phone told him that they might even offer him medical benefits; and if he wanted to start doing his physical therapy again he would need them. Without his car he needed to find alternate means of travel around the city, he didn’t have enough for a cab so he decided to rely on the bus and the subway. Today he was the taking the bus to the posh hotel in Manhattan; a far cry from his neighborhood.  
When he got there they took him right into an interview, they offered him a job, especially with his previous waiter experience. The only problem was that he needed to start that night, he reluctantly agreed, but they offered to cut him a check for his first pay. They got him a uniform, black pants, white shirt, and black bow tie. He was taken downstairs to the kitchen along with some other newbies and given instructions on what do to that night. With this new job Justin felt that life in New York might just turn out to be not so bad after all.

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Brian arrived about 15 minutes after the party had started; he prided himself on being fashionably late. He made his way up to the fifth floor; he could hear the music and loud conversation coming from the giant ballroom. He stopped just inside the doors and surveyed who was present. He could only recognize Gardner and a couple people from the office.  
He made his way to the bar, and got a glass of champagne. He felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned around and found himself face to face with his new boss Gardner Vance. “Brian, my boy. Glad you could make it.”  
“Yeah, well wouldn’t miss it for the world. So whose ass should I kiss first?” Gardner snickered at Brian’s laid back demeanor, and started to walk him toward a group of people, all the while pointing people out. “That’s Marion Bluth, she is the head of the BBR Financial Firm, they are looking for a fresh new look for their company. I suggest you get to know her; we could use a new contract from her. Over there that is Anderson Bryant. He just took over his father’s chain of hotels. It was rumored that the first day on the job he fired everyone, including his advertising team. That is the account I want you to land tonight.” Gardner patted him on the back and pushed him into the crowd to work his magic.  
Brian made his way over to Anderson, who was chatting up some people he recognized from the firm. “Excuse, Mr. Bryant. My name is Brian Kinney, I work at Vanguard Advertising. I just wanted to introduce myself and offer my condolences to you; your father was a good man.”  
“Well thank you Mr. Kinney, and please call me Anderson. He was a good man, I hope not to end up like him though, he worked it seemed up until his last breath. So how long have you been at Vanguard?”  
“Only about 3 months, but it feels like I have been there longer. It’s amazing, great environment, and I am damn good at my job, so that helps of course.” Anderson just smirked at Brian’s remark, he had heard about this hot new young man that had been hired at Vanguard. Brian couldn’t help but notice the blatant glance that Anderson did at checking him out.  
“So you’re damn good at what you do then? How good are you?” Anderson came closer to Brian as he answered.  
“Well, just so you know, I’m fan-fucking-tastic.” He finished his drink and watched as Anderson headed to the bathroom. He placed his glass on a tray of a blonde waiter that passed by him and walked off to the bathroom to get the account he promised Garder.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian came back into the ballroom all the while adjusting his tie and jacket. Anderson came up next to Brian and leaned into him. “I’ll have my accountants draw up the papers and deliver them to your office on Monday.”  
“Great. It was good doing…business with you Mr. Bryant.”  
”Like I said Brian, call me Anderson. It’s been a pleasure.” Anderson ran his finger down Brian’s arm and made his way back over to his wife’s table to join the rest of his party. Brian walked over the table where Gardner and his firm were seated. He took a seat next to Gardner and next to his assistant Cynthia. She leaned in and whispered to him, “So how did it go? Did you get the account?”  
“Of course I got the account; the contract will be delivered on Monday.” Cynthia smiled at Brian; she was amazed that this new comer was already becoming the top in the firm. She still didn’t know how he was able to pass by the junior executive positio and go straight to being an account executive with his own team; but at the moment she didn’t care. She was proud of her boss, and he always shared his bonuses with her, so she had no place to complain.  
Brian was ignoring the people at the table and glanced around the ballroom. He spotted a blonde waiter, a regular walking wet dream. He had shaggy blonde hair, and the most amazing ass Brian had ever laid eyes on. Just then the blonde in question turned around with a tray of drinks and Brian locked eyes with the most beautiful blue orbs he had ever seen. He felt something in the pit of his stomach at that moment that both confused and delighted him. Brian turned to answer a question that Cynthia had asked him. 

As they were talking he glanced over at the drink that was being placed in front of him. He noticed the waiter’s hand start to shake; he reached out and took his drink; his fingers grazing the blonde's. They both noticed the sudden spark that the touch elicited. Justin’s face flushed in embarrassment, he gave the dark haired, hazel-eyed man a small smile and mouthed thanks. Brian just smiled and sipped his drink. He suddenly felt a cold splash on the side of his pants, and a loud “FUCK” from Garder. He saw Gardner stand up and push his chair back, while raising his hands up and looking at his soaking wet suit. “You stupid shit! Look at what you did to my fucking suit! It probably costs more that you’ve made all night!” Gardner managed to direct all his rage and anger directly at Justin. Justin just stood there in horror; he managed to squeak out an apology, “Oh my gawd, I am so sorry sir, it just slipped out of my hands.” With all of the commotion it caused Justin's boss to come over, he managed calm Vance down and told Justin to take a break. Brian watched the blonde’s head bow down and skulk off toward the back. Brian excused himself and went to dry off his pants in the bathroom. After about 10 minutes under the hand dryer, he headed off toward the terrace for a smoke.

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As soon as Brian stepped out onto the terrace he was bombareded with a slight breeze that managed to ruffle his hair. He opened his lucky lighter and tried to light his cigarette. "Dammit, stupid fuck-"  
"Here." Brian was startled for a moment, he thought he was alone; he hadn't even noticed that the there was anyone there. He looked up to see the blonde from earlier. He walked over to him and got his cigarette lit. "Sorry to startle you, I am kind of playing hooky from my shift, my break ended ten minutes ago."  
Justin was sitting on the edge up against the wall with his knees drawn to his chest. He could see the wind blowing the soft blonde hair. Brian smiled back at him.  
"That's okay, I won't tell anyone. I am too, I'm hiding from my boss, I am tired of meeting people and shaking their hands and shit like that." He watched Justin lean over the edge to look down, "Could you not do that?"  
"Do what? This?" This time Justin leaned even further over and Brian quickly came at him, prepared to grab him if he fell.  
"Yeah, that. Asshole. I am not to fond of heights, and I hate when people do shit like that." Justin couldn't help but laugh, he finally stopped, but his face was flushed. They both continued to smoke their cigarettes in silence. Brian spoke first, "I hope you didn't get in trouble earlier for spilling that drink."  
Justin froze up a little bit at Brian's question, "Nah, I just got yelled at. I hope I didn’t ruin your suit too bad, plus my manager wanted to dock it from my pay, apparently that guy went all schizoid and demanded that I pay for the dry cleaning for his suit. Fucking asshole."  
"You got that right." Justin looked at him funny, Brian just gave him a tongue-in-cheek smirk, "He's my boss."  
"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, I didn't mean any-"  
"Don't worry, you're right. All he cares about is his precious company and himself. Hell he probably deserved to be put down with something like that. Oh, and don’t worry about my suit, it was nothing, it came right out. I'm Brian by the way."  
He held out his hand, and Justin shook it. Brian noticed him wince but chose to ignore and not embarrass the boy. "Justin. Justin Taylor."  
"Well Justin Taylor, what brings a nice young kid like you to New York? You don't have that native feel to me."  
"No I just moved here about two weeks ago. And I am not a kid, teenager yes, but kid no. I'm 19; I just couldn't take living with my family anymore, so I left, came out here. It's not so bad, maybe a little lonely; I haven't got to many friends. Just some of the guys that work here."  
"I'm new to the city also, I just got a job offer for an Ad Firm on Madison Avenue. It's fucking awesome, and the pay isn't too bad either. I feel New York and I were destined for one another." Brian looked at his watch and realized the evening would soon be ending and he could go home, relax, and get a real drink; none of this frilly champagne crap. For some reason he felt that he couldn't just walk away from this kid, well man. So his mouth did what his brain told him not to do, "What time do you get off? We could share a cab together."  
"I don't think you're heading where I am."  
"Oh? And just where are you heading?" At this point Brian made his way closer to Justin, and put his hand just in front of Justin's feet and looked into the boy's face.  
"No place special." Justin replied while looking back out at the city and blowing out the smoke from his lungs.  
Brian turned Justin's face toward his, "I can change that."  
Justin sat up a little straighter, and just as they both were about to lean into the kiss Brian heard Gardner Vance yell his name, "Brian! There you are, come back in here already, I need you to meet someone." Brian groaned and dropped his face into his hand. Justin just smirked and leaned back against the wall while continuing to look out over the city skyline.  
Brian yelled over his shoulder, "Yeah, okay I'll be right there, give me two minutes." Gardner just closed the door and went back inside. "I guess I better go."  
"Yeah, you better get back the ass kissing. And I better get back to my shift." Justin swung his legs over to the other side and onto the ground.  
As he stood up, he felt Brian's gaze burn into his soul. "Just think about my offer, okay?"  
And with those parting words Brian was gone. Justin stubbed out his cigarette and flung it over the side. He returned to the party to finish out his shift, and possibly collect his first paycheck.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Justin had un-tucked his shirt, unbuttoned the top three buttons, and taken off his bow tie. He had made over a hundred bucks tonight, he felt fucking amazing and wanted to go out and celebrate. Some the guys he had met on the job wanted to go out as well, but as soon as Justin had mentioned heading over to the Chelsea district they got kind of iffy. They quickly apologized and told Justin they weren’t judging him if he was gay, it just wasn’t their scene. He explained that it was okay and walked off toward the entrance to head to the bus stop.  
As he came down the front of the steps, he couldn’t keep the excited grin off his face. There before him was the man from earlier; he was about to duck around him and head straight for his earlier destination, when Brian spun around. “Hey, I was wondering when your shift ended.”  
“You were waiting for me?”  
“Well I wouldn’t say that; let’s just say I didn’t want to take that cab ride home alone.” Justin flushed at the way Brian emphasized the word alone. He had had a boyfriend in high school, and he had certainly kissed guys and fooled around before. But every time he attempted to be with someone, or got close to going that far he was flooded with terrifying memories of a shameful past. Maybe Brian was someone he could trust enough to follow through on his desires with. Justin soon realized that being around someone so liberal with sex, someone like Brian; he constantly found himself blushing at every sexual innuendo that Brian spewed forth.  
“Well I wasn't kidding earlier, I doubt you’ll be heading anywhere near to where I am. I don’t live in the nicest of neighborhoods, and I am pretty sure that you do.”  
“Well let's just say that it's not too bad. I was headed home but I was going to stop for a drink first, at a bar near my loft; care to join me?” Justin thought for a moment, Brian’s plans took him the opposite direction of his apartment. After drinks he supposed that he could just catch the bus home, although it could take some time. For some reason seeing Brian wait for his response and the fact that he had sampled plenty of the champagne, he just couldn’t turn him down. “Sure why not, I wanted to go out and celebrate, it is my first week in New York after all.”  
“Good. I have a cab waiting.” He followed Justin and got into the cab after him. He gave the cabbie the name of the bar and they pulled into traffic. Brian could see that Justin was a little tense, and that he kept rubbing his right hand. He leaned in and Justin could feel Brian's hot breath on his ear as Brian whispered: “Relax Sunshine. New York awaits us.” Justin smiled an ear-to-ear grin at the nickname that Brian called him, he turned his face to look at him. Their mouths were mere inches apart as he voiced his reply: “So where are we headed?”  
“It’s like I told you earlier; some place special.”


End file.
